Deploying a portion of a streaming application to one or more virtual machines

ABSTRACT

A streams manager monitors performance of a streaming application, and when the performance needs to be improved, the streams manager determines from split rules how to split the flow graph for the streaming application. The streams manager requests virtual machines from a cloud manager. In response, the cloud manager provisions one or more virtual machines in a cloud. The streams manager then modifies the flow graph so a portion of the flow graph is deployed to the one or more virtual machines in the cloud. In this manner a streaming application can dynamically evolve to increase its performance as needed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 14/227,579 filed onMar. 27, 2014, which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,325,766 on Apr. 26, 2016.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This disclosure generally relates to streaming applications, and morespecifically relates to enhancing performance of a streaming applicationby deploying a portion of the streaming application to one or morevirtual machines.

2. Background Art

Streaming applications are known in the art, and typically includemultiple operators coupled together in a flow graph that processstreaming data in near real-time. An operator typically takes instreaming data in the form of data tuples, operates on the tuples insome fashion, and outputs the processed tuples to the next operator.Streaming applications are becoming more common due to the highperformance that can be achieved from near real-time processing ofstreaming data.

Many streaming applications require significant computer resources, suchas processors and memory, to provide the desired near real-timeprocessing of data. However, the workload of a streaming application canvary greatly over time. Allocating on a permanent basis computerresources to a streaming application that would assure the streamingapplication would always function as desired (i.e., during peak demand)would mean many of those resources would sit idle when the streamingapplication is processing a workload significantly less than itsmaximum. Furthermore, what constitutes peak demand at one point in timecan be exceeded as the usage of the streaming application increases. Fora dedicated system that runs a streaming application, an increase indemand may require a corresponding increase in hardware resources tomeet that demand.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A streams manager monitors performance of a streaming application, andwhen the performance needs to be improved, the streams managerdetermines from split rules how to split the flow graph for thestreaming application. The streams manager requests virtual machinesfrom a cloud manager. In response, the cloud manager provisions one ormore virtual machines in a cloud. The streams manager then modifies theflow graph so a portion of the flow graph is deployed to the one or morevirtual machines in the cloud. In this manner a streaming applicationcan dynamically evolve to increase its performance as needed.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following more particular description, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appendeddrawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cloud computing node;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a cloud computing environment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of abstraction model layers;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing some features of a cloud manager;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing some features of a streams manager;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for a streams manager to requestand receive from a cloud manager virtual machines to improve performanceof a streaming application;

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for a generating one or more splitrules from profile data for streaming operators;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method for improving performance of astreaming application by deploying one or more portions of a flow graphto VMs according to split rules;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an example of a flow graph for asample streaming application;

FIG. 10 is a table showing split rules derived from profile data foroperators;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing deployment of a first portion of theflow graph in FIG. 9 to a VM;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing deployment of a second portion of theflow graph in FIG. 9 to a VM; and

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing deployment of two different portionof the flow graph in FIG. 9 to two different VMs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A streams manager monitors performance of a streaming application, andwhen the performance needs to be improved, the streams managerdetermines from split rules how to split the flow graph for thestreaming application. The streams manager requests virtual machinesfrom a cloud manager. In response, the cloud manager provisions one ormore virtual machines in a cloud. The streams manager then modifies theflow graph so a portion of the flow graph is deployed to the one or morevirtual machines in the cloud. In this manner a streaming applicationcan dynamically evolve to increase its performance as needed.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail).The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloudinfrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage,or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exceptionof limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forloadbalancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an example of a cloudcomputing node is shown. Cloud computing node 100 is only one example ofa suitable cloud computing node and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of theinvention described herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 100 iscapable of being implemented and/or performing any of the functionalityset forth hereinabove.

In cloud computing node 100 there is a computer system/server 110, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 110 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, tabletcomputer systems, thin clients, thick clients, handheld or laptopdevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set topboxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputersystems, mainframe computer systems, and distributed cloud computingenvironments that include any of the above systems or devices, and thelike.

Computer system/server 110 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 110 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 110 in cloud computing node100 is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 110 may include, but are notlimited to, one or more processors or processing units 120, a systemmemory 130, and a bus 122 that couples various system componentsincluding system memory 130 to processing unit 120.

Bus 122 represents one or more of any of several types of busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, an accelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus usingany of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and notlimitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture(ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA)bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, andPeripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 110 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 110, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. An example ofremovable media is shown in FIG. 1 to include a Digital Video Disc (DVD)192.

System memory 130 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile or non-volatile memory, such as firmware 132. Firmware 132provides an interface to the hardware of computer system/server 110.System memory 130 can also include computer system readable media in theform of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 134 and/orcache memory 136. Computer system/server 110 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 140 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 122 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 130 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions described in more detail below.

Program/utility 150, having a set (at least one) of program modules 152,may be stored in memory 130 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 152 generally carry out the functionsand/or methodologies of embodiments of the invention as describedherein.

Computer system/server 110 may also communicate with one or moreexternal devices 190 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display180, a disk drive, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user tointeract with computer system/server 110; and/or any devices (e.g.,network card, modem, etc.) that enable computer system/server 110 tocommunicate with one or more other computing devices. Such communicationcan occur via Input/Output (I/O) interfaces 170. Still yet, computersystem/server 110 can communicate with one or more networks such as alocal area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or apublic network (e.g., the Internet) via network adapter 160. Asdepicted, network adapter 160 communicates with the other components ofcomputer system/server 110 via bus 122. It should be understood thatalthough not shown, other hardware and/or software components could beused in conjunction with computer system/server 110. Examples, include,but are not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processingunits, external disk drive arrays, Redundant Array of Independent Disk(RAID) systems, tape drives, data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 200 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 200 comprises one ormore cloud computing nodes 100 with which local computing devices usedby cloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant(PDA) or cellular telephone 210A, desktop computer 210B, laptop computer210C, and/or automobile computer system 210N may communicate. Nodes 100may communicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown)physically or virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private,Community, Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or acombination thereof. This allows cloud computing environment 200 tooffer infrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which acloud consumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 210A-Nshown in FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computingnodes 100 and cloud computing environment 200 can communicate with anytype of computerized device over any type of network and/or networkaddressable connection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 200 in FIG. 2 is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and the disclosure andclaims are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided.

Hardware and software layer 310 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes, in oneexample IBM System z systems; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer)architecture based servers, in one example IBM System p systems; IBMSystem x systems; IBM BladeCenter systems; storage devices; networks andnetworking components. Examples of software components include networkapplication server software, in one example IBM WebSphere® applicationserver software; and database software, in one example IBM DB2® databasesoftware. IBM, System z, System p, System x, BladeCenter, WebSphere, andDB2 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporationregistered in many jurisdictions worldwide.

Virtualization layer 320 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 330 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computingresources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks withinthe cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide costtracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computingenvironment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA. A cloud manager 350 is representative of a cloudmanager as described in more detail below. While the cloud manager 350is shown in FIG. 3 to reside in the management layer 330, cloud manager350 can span all of the levels shown in FIG. 3, as discussed below.

Workloads layer 340 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing; and a streams manager 360, as discussed in more detailbelow.

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

FIG. 4 shows one suitable example of the cloud manager 350 shown in FIG.3. The cloud manager 350 includes a cloud provisioning mechanism 410that includes a resource request interface 420. The resource requestinterface 420 allows a software entity, such as the streams manager 360,to request virtual machines from the cloud manager 350 without humanintervention. The cloud manager 350 also includes a user interface 430that allows a user to interact with the cloud manager to perform anysuitable function, including provisioning of VMs, destruction of VMs,performance analysis of the cloud, etc. The difference between theresource request interface 420 and the user interface 430 is a user mustmanually use the user interface 430 to perform functions specified bythe user, while the resource request interface 420 may be used by asoftware entity to request provisioning of cloud resources by the cloudmechanism 350 without input from a human user. Of course, cloud manager350 could include many other features and functions known in the artthat are not shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 5 shows one suitable example of the streams manager 360 shown inFIG. 3. The streams manager 360 is software that manages one or morestreaming applications, including creating operators and data flowconnections between operators in a flow graph that represents astreaming application. The streams manager 360 includes a performancemonitor 510 with one or more performance thresholds 520. Performancethresholds 520 can include static thresholds, such as percentage used ofcurrent capacity, and can also include any suitable heuristic formeasuring performance of a streaming application as a whole or formeasuring performance of one or more operators in a streamingapplication. Performance thresholds 520 may include different thresholdsand metrics at the operator level, at the level of a group of operators,and/or at the level of the overall performance of the streamingapplication. Performance of a streaming application may also be measuredby comparing current performance to past performance in one or morehistorical logs 522. Note the performance measured can includeperformance for a single operator, performance for a group of operators,and performance for the streaming application as a whole. The streamperformance monitor 510 monitors performance of a streaming application,and when current performance compared to the one or more performancethresholds 520 or compared to the historical log(s) 522 indicatescurrent performance needs to be improved, the streams manager 360 thendetermines how to split the flow graph and how to deploy a portion ofthe flow graph to one or more VMs in a cloud. This is done using theflow graph split mechanism 526, which operates according to one or moresplit rules 528 that are derived from a library of profile data 524. Thelibrary of profile data 524 may include profile data from one or moreprevious executions of one or more streaming applications, which couldinclude (but does not necessarily include) the streaming applicationbeing currently executed. The library of profile data is classifiedaccording to operator function, which allows the split rules 528 to begenerated from the library of profile data 524. The split rules 528 canspecify an operator or operator type, along with an indication ofwhether the operator should be kept with one or more other operators,and/or an indication of whether the operator should be separated fromone or more other operators. The flow graph split mechanism 526determines how to split the flow graph into multiple portions thatinclude one or more portions to be deployed to a virtual machine. Oncethe portion(s) to be deployed to a virtual machine is determined, thestreams manager 360 communicates the need for resources to the cloudresource request mechanism 530. The cloud resource request mechanism530, in response to the communication from the stream performancemonitor, assembles a cloud resource request 540, which can includeinformation such as a number of VMs to provision 550, streaminfrastructure needed in each VM 560, and a stream application portion570 for each VM. Once the cloud resource request 530 is formulated, thestreams manager 360 submits the cloud resource request 540 to a cloudmanager, such as cloud manager 350 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

The cloud resource request can be formatted in any suitable way. Asimple example will illustrate two suitable ways for formatting a cloudresource request. Let's assume the streams manager determines it needstwo VMs, where both have common stream infrastructure, with a first ofthe VMs hosting operator A and the second of the VMs hosting operator B.The cloud resource request 540 in FIG. 5 could specify two VMs at 550,could specify the common stream infrastructure, such as an operatingsystem and middleware, at 560, and could specify operator A and operatorB at 570. In response, the cloud manager would provision two VMs withthe common stream infrastructure, with the first of the VMs hostingoperator A and the second of the VMs hosting operator B. In thealternative, the cloud resource request 540 could be formulated suchthat each VM is specified with its corresponding stream infrastructureand stream application portion. In this configuration, the cloudresource request would specify a first VM with the common streaminfrastructure and operator A, and a second VM with the common streaminfrastructure and operator B.

Referring to FIG. 6, a method 600 shows one suitable example forenhancing performance of a streaming application, and is preferablyperformed by the streams manager 360 interacting with the cloud manager350. The streams manager requests resources, such as VMs, from the cloudmanager (step 610). The cloud manager provisions the VMs (step 620). Thestreams manager then deploys a portion of the flow graph to the VMs(step 630). When the streaming application is not initially hosted inthe cloud, the result will be a hybrid implementation of the streamsapplication, with some portions hosted on a dedicated computer systemand other portions hosted by one or more VMs in the cloud.

FIG. 7 shows one suitable example of a method 700 for generating one ormore split rules for one or more operators from profile data. When astreaming application executes, data is typically logged that indicatesperformance of the streaming application. The profile data can be minedby interrogating the data that was logged during one or more previousexecutions of one or more streaming applications (step 710). The profiledata is then used to classify operators according to function andrelationships (step 720). One or more split rules are then generatedfrom the profile data for the classified operators (step 730). Note theprofile data can be data mined from either previous executions of thesame streaming application or previous executions of different streamingapplications that contain one or more of the same operators or one ormore similar operators. The profile data may thus include profile datafor operators in the same application and/or operators in a differentapplication. The split rules generated in step 730 allow the streamsmanager to determine how to split the flow graph into differentportions, one or more of which may be deployed to virtual machines in acloud.

Referring to FIG. 8, a method 800 shows how a streams manage can monitorand improve performance of a streaming application by deploying aportion of the streaming application to one or more VMs in a cloud. Thestreams manager monitors performance of a flow graph corresponding to astreaming application (step 810). When performance does not need to beincreased (step 820=NO), method 800 loops back to step 810 andcontinues. When performance needs to be increased (step 820=YES), thestreams manager determines applicable split rules for operators in theflow graph (step 830). The streams manager determines from the splitrules how to split the flow graph into multiple portions (step 840), atleast one of which may be deployed to a VM in a cloud. The streamsmanager then requests the cloud manager provision one or more VMs for aportion of the flow graph (step 850). The streams manager then modifiesthe flow graph to deploy the portion of the flow graph in the VM(s)(step 860). Method 800 is then done. Method 800 allows a streams managerto make intelligent decisions regarding how to split a flow graph basedon profile data gathered in one or more previous executions of one ormore streaming applications so one or more of the portions may bedeployed to a virtual machine.

FIG. 9 shows a very simple flow graph for the purpose of illustratingthe concepts herein. In the flow graph in FIG. 9, operator A performs asplit based on some function f(x), and outputs tuples to operator B andoperator C. Operator B applies some variance to the input tuplesreceived from operator A, and outputs the tuples. Similarly, operator Bapplies some variance to the input tuples received from operator A, andoutputs the tuples to operator D. Operator D applies a function g(x) tothe input tuples, and outputs the tuples.

We assume profile data is mined from one or more previous executions ofone or more streaming applications, and classified according to operatorfunction. For this specific example, we assume the profile data includesone or more previous executions of the same streaming application shownin FIG. 9, which provides profile data for the operators A, B, C and D.In an alternative implementation, the profile data could include datafrom one or more previous executions of different streaming applicationsthat may include one or more of operators A, B, C and D, or may containnone of operators A, B, C and D but contain operators with similarfunctions. We assume for this example the profile data indicatesoperator A performs optimally when hosted on the same physical/virtualmachine as the receiving operators B and C, and further indicates thatdistributing operators A, B, and C to different hosts causes anunacceptable latency and suffers a performance hit. A split rule canthen be generated based on this profile data that specifies to keep thesplit operator and receiving operators together, as shown at 1010, 1020and 1030 in FIG. 10. Note the split rule 1010 could be specific tooperators A, B and C, could be general to any split operator that splitsaccording to function f(x) and the corresponding receiving operators, orcould be general to any split operator and receiving operators. Wefurther assume the profile data indicates operator D experiences hightuple input rate and low tuple output rate when hosted on the same hostas operator C, and that operator D performs optimally when hostedseparately from operator C. A split rule can then be generated based onthis profile data that specifies to keep the operator that implementsg(x) separate from the input operator, as shown at 1040 in FIG. 10. Thesplit rule 1040 could be specific to operators C and D, or could begeneral to any operator that receives tuples from one operator andimplements g(x) in the next operator. The split rules shown in FIG. 10specify either to keep operators together or to keep operators separate.Application of these split rules is shown in FIGS. 11-13.

The streams manager 360 uses the split rules 1010, 1020, 1030 and 1040shown in FIG. 10 to determine that operators A, B and C should be kepttogether, and operator C and D should be separated. Using these splitrules, the streams manger could deploy operators A, B and C to a VM, asshown in FIG. 11. Using these same split rules, the streams managercould deploy operator D to a VM, as shown in FIG. 12. Using the samesplit rules, the streams manager could deploy operators A, B and C to afirst VM, and could deploy operator D to a second VM, as shown in FIG.13. The disclosure and claims herein extends to deploying any suitableportion of a flow graph to one or more virtual machines based on splitrules derived from profile data that is relevant to the operators in thestreaming application.

In one specific implementation, the original flow graph shown in FIG. 9could be implemented on a dedicated computer system, while the portionsshown in FMs in FIGS. 11-12 are implemented in VMs in a cloud. With thisimplementation, the resulting flow graphs shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 willinclude a hybrid of operators implemented on a dedicated computer systemwith operators implemented in a cloud. In an alternative implementation,the original flow graph shown in FIG. 9 could also be hosted on one ormore VMs in a cloud, and the portions deployed to the cloud could alsobe hosted in the same or a different cloud. With this implementation,the resulting flow graphs shown in FIGS. 11-13 will include operatorsthat are all implemented in a cloud. Note also that multiple cloudscould be used. Thus, the original flow graph shown in FIG. 9 could beimplemented in a private cloud, while the portions deployed to VMs shownin FIGS. 11 and 12 could be implemented in a public cloud.

A streams manager monitors performance of a streaming application, andwhen the performance needs to be improved, the streams managerdetermines from split rules how to split the flow graph for thestreaming application. The streams manager requests virtual machinesfrom a cloud manager. In response, the cloud manager provisions one ormore virtual machines in a cloud. The streams manager then modifies theflow graph so a portion of the flow graph is deployed to the one or morevirtual machines in the cloud. In this manner a streaming applicationcan dynamically evolve to increase its performance as needed.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure isparticularly shown and described above, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least oneprocessor; a memory coupled to the at least one processor; at least onesplit rule residing in the memory for at least one of the firstplurality of streaming operators, wherein the at least one split rulespecifies at least one of: a plurality of operators to keep together;and a plurality of operators to keep apart; a first streamingapplication residing in the memory and executed by the at least oneprocessor, the first streaming application comprising a flow graph thatincludes a second plurality of operators that process a plurality ofdata tuples; and a streams manager residing in the memory and executedby the at least one processor, the streams manager monitoringperformance of the first streaming application, and when performance ofthe first streaming application needs to be improved, the streamsmanager determines at least one applicable split rule for the secondplurality of operators, determines from the at least one applicablesplit rule how to split the flow graph of the first streamingapplication to create a first portion to be deployed to at least onevirtual machine, requests a cloud manager to provision the at least onevirtual machine, and when the cloud manager provisions the at least onevirtual machine, the streams manager modifies the flow graph to deploythe first portion to the at least one virtual machine.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the first plurality of operators comprises the secondplurality of operators.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the firstportion comprises a single operator.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe first portion comprises a plurality of operators.
 5. The apparatusof claim 1 wherein the function of the first plurality of operatorscomprises at least one of: splitting to multiple operators according toa first defined function; applying a second defined function; andapplying a variance to an input.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein thestreams manager determines when the performance of the first streamingapplication needs to be improved by comparing current performance of thefirst streaming application to at least one performance threshold. 7.The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the streams manager determines when theperformance of the first streaming application needs to be improved bycomparing current performance of the first streaming application tohistorical performance of the first streaming application.
 8. Acomputer-implemented method executed by at least one processor forimproving performance of a streaming application, the method comprising:executing a first plurality of operators in at least one streamingapplication; generating at least one split rule for at least one of thefirst plurality of streaming operators, wherein the at least one splitrule specifies at least one of: a plurality of operators to keeptogether; and a plurality of operators to keep apart; executing a firststreaming application that comprises a flow graph that includes a secondplurality of operators that process a plurality of data tuples;monitoring performance of the first streaming application; whenperformance of the first streaming application needs to be improved:determining at least one applicable split rule for the second pluralityof operators; determining from the at least one applicable split rulehow to split the flow graph of the first streaming application to createa first portion to be deployed to at least one virtual machine;requesting a cloud manager to provision at least one virtual machine;and modifying the flow graph to deploy the first portion to the at leastone virtual machine.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the firstplurality of operators comprises the second plurality of operators. 10.The method of claim 8 wherein the first portion comprises a singleoperator.
 11. The method of claim 8 wherein the first portion comprisesa plurality of operators.
 12. The method of claim 8 wherein the functionof the first plurality of operators comprises at least one of: splittingto multiple operators according to a first defined function; applying asecond defined function; and applying a variance to an input.
 13. Themethod of claim 8 wherein performance of the first streaming applicationneeds to be improved is determined by comparing current performance ofthe first streaming application to at least one performance threshold.14. The method of claim 8 wherein performance of the first streamingapplication needs to be improved is determined by comparing currentperformance of the first streaming application to historical performanceof the first streaming application.
 15. A computer-implemented methodexecuted by at least one processor for improving performance of astreaming application, the method comprising: executing a plurality ofoperators in at least one streaming application; generating at least onesplit rule for at least one of the plurality of streaming operators,wherein the at least one split rule specifies at least one of: aplurality of operators to keep together; and a plurality of operators tokeep apart; executing a first streaming application that comprises aflow graph that includes the plurality of operators that process aplurality of data tuples; monitoring performance of the first streamingapplication; when performance of the first streaming application needsto be improved: determining at least one applicable split rule for theplurality of operators; determining from the at least one applicablesplit rule how to split the flow graph of the first streamingapplication to create a first portion to be deployed to at least onevirtual machine, wherein the first portion comprises a plurality ofoperators; requesting a cloud manager to provision at least one virtualmachine; and modifying the flow graph to deploy the first portion to theat least one virtual machine.
 16. The method of claim 15 whereinperformance of the first streaming application needs to be improved isdetermined by comparing current performance of the first streamingapplication to at least one performance threshold.
 17. The method ofclaim 15 wherein performance of the first streaming application needs tobe improved is determined by comparing current performance of the firststreaming application to historical performance of the first streamingapplication.